Although the typical product of skeptical western culture is suspicious of such practices, Buddhist and Hindu monks have continuously amazed scientists for well over a century now. Researchers have found them inexplicably capable of generating intense heat with no apparent source (this study involved several monks sitting in snow-storms with temperatures well below zero wearing nothing but wet towels) to change the PH level of water simply by thinking at it, and now one yogi claims to have gone without food or water for the past 70 years.

There is no way to verify the historical accuracy of his claim, but the yogi still stunned scientists when he volunteered for a two-week program during which he was kept under constant surveillance. An average human can survive for roughly five days without significant amounts of water. Prahlad Jani, on the other-hand, completed his two week program without hydration with absolutely –no- change in his health.

The only possible explanation I can see for this is human error in the study, but after a bit of searching I find absolutely no formal complaints about the methodology. Nobody has provided evidence that the conduct was unscientific or contrary to orthodox procedure and indeed nobody has even asserted this.

One suggestion was that the yogi had soaked water up in his beard and secretly ingested it. How a man under constant surveillance would manage to secretly soak his beard, ring it out, and consume the water without notice is beyond me.

During the study the yogi was allowed to bathe and swish water in his mouth for hygiene purposes. However, the researches made very precise measurements before and after and found the he had not consumed any of the water.

Similar awe-striking evidence of supposed miracles have left researches boggled across the world, and these are not limited to eastern religions. A double blind experiment involving hundreds of heart patients at a San Francisco hospital found that patients being prayed for were immensely more likely to recover than those who were not being prayed for…even though the patients involved in the study had no way of knowing whether or not they were in the group being prayed for. This study has been criticized because it does not control the variable of religious affiliation, but has been repeated with consistent results.

What are your thoughts on these findings? I do not think there is any evidence of anything explicitly “super natural.” The prayer study, for example, was not specific to one religion. So, Christians cannot cite this as evidence that their God heals people since Muslims, Jews, and people of other religious affiliations were allowed to participate as well.

My theory then is that prayer has an effect because our minds are able to interact with the physical universe. This may seem doubtful, but I find there is strong scientific evidence for the assertion. Several studies, for example, have found that by thinking negative thoughts at certain plants researchers can trigger defense mechanisms within the plants. Some plants, for example, release various toxins when threatened. Researchers imagined themselves eating the plants from separate facilities while scientists elsewhere monitored the plant behavior. Sure enough, the plant reacted as if it were going to be devoured.

Producing heat with no apparent source? The mind is the source. Changing the PH level of a pool with no physical contact? The mind may be able to do this as well. Fasting for seventy years? If the mind can produce heat and interact with our physical brains why not engender chemical energy?

In the end this is just my hazardous theory. I do not “believe,” these words…I simply propose them as a possible explanation and remain agnostic until I see more conclusive results. What are your thoughts on the matter?

This is old news, the phenomenon of Jani as been noted by the scientific community for years now. They did a test on him a couple of years ago under similar conditions, it went on for 10 days until the study had to stop, not because Jani couldn't continue but the scientists who were conducting the study simply didn't know how to continue.

It all really comes down to the power of Will. A concept that many civilizations especially in the East have known for thousands of years, and something that Western science is only slowly coming to understand.

If he willed himself into a state of hibernation, then it's explainable that he simply utilized his mentalist to regulate his metabolism. Involuntary body function such as metabolism doesn't require our constant awareness -we don't need to think about breathing when we just do- but that doesn't mean we can't take control of it when we want to. However that would require tremendous mental discipline on the individual, and the Eastern religious teaching of individuality had a few thousands years to put its theory into practice.

If he willed himself into a state of hibernation, then it's explainable that he simply utilized his mentalist to regulate his metabolism. Involuntary body function such as metabolism doesn't require our constant awareness -we don't need to think about breathing when we just do- but that doesn't mean we can't take control of it when we want to. However that would require tremendous mental discipline on the individual, and the Eastern religious teaching of individuality had a few thousands years to put its theory into practice.

70 years seems like a bit of a stretch, maybe this great achiever of longevity was sneaking snacks. I agree with a person learning to go without a ''normal'' amount of food or drink through some form of training, but to go without any is a bit far-fetched. The mortal beings that we are require sustenance. Or maybe this man was fed spiritually, possibly even by Satan, as digs suggested. He could likely have just gone for all that time with the help of an earlier version of Red Bull. Who knows?

If he willed himself into a state of hibernation, then it's explainable that he simply utilized his mentalist to regulate his metabolism. Involuntary body function such as metabolism doesn't require our constant awareness -we don't need to think about breathing when we just do- but that doesn't mean we can't take control of it when we want to. However that would require tremendous mental discipline on the individual, and the Eastern religious teaching of individuality had a few thousands years to put its theory into practice.

Well, the process of breathing alone should have been enough to dehydrate him in two weeks. So unless this hibernation was so deep he stopped breathing that would not work. If it was that deep, then his brain would have shut down for lack of oxygen. So where’s his will if not from some sort spiritual source? Perhaps the soul is not as biological as we tend to think…

If this is so, I need to change my moral stance on the issue of early term abortions. Typically I consider them morally neutral because the soul is what gives us moral significance in my theological view. Since a zygote has no brain, I assume it has no soul…but if the soul is present even when a functioning brain is not…

Well, if we are talking from our shared Christian perspective…why does it have to be Satan? Maybe God kept him alive? I do not know why our deity would do such a thing for a Hindu yogi, but that does not mean there is not a reason I am simply ignorant of.

Maybe this guy will inspire people to spiritualism which will open their mind to Christ? Maybe he will become a bastion yes for his religion but also traditionalism as a whole? Maybe he’s just a legitimately good guy who truly wants to do good and is simply mislead and God is rewarding him for his good nature?

If he willed himself into a state of hibernation, then it's explainable that he simply utilized his mentalist to regulate his metabolism. Involuntary body function such as metabolism doesn't require our constant awareness -we don't need to think about breathing when we just do- but that doesn't mean we can't take control of it when we want to. However that would require tremendous mental discipline on the individual, and the Eastern religious teaching of individuality had a few thousands years to put its theory into practice.

Well, the process of breathing alone should have been enough to dehydrate him in two weeks. So unless this hibernation was so deep he stopped breathing that would not work. If it was that deep, then his brain would have shut down for lack of oxygen. So where’s his will if not from some sort spiritual source? Perhaps the soul is not as biological as we tend to think…

If this is so, I need to change my moral stance on the issue of early term abortions. Typically I consider them morally neutral because the soul is what gives us moral significance in my theological view. Since a zygote has no brain, I assume it has no soul…but if the soul is present even when a functioning brain is not…

As a fitness trainer, I'm an expert when it comes to accelerating metabolism to boost physical, mental, and emotional performances. For you see the trick is when you increased one of them, you'll eventually end up boosting them all.

However, this also means that through reverse engineering, I can formulate a method to decelerate human performances. The two-weeks assumption is only based on normal human metabolic rate, it doesn't include a scenario when metabolism was already at a reduced rate. That said, our brain doesn't even need that much oxygen, when it just doesn't need to be aware of anything.

If this is true then this is certainly a greater feat than Amar Bharti, the Indian who's kept his right arm raised in the air for nearly 40 years, or that one Hindu who's done nothing but consume milk his entire life.

As a fitness trainer, I'm an expert when it comes to accelerating metabolism to boost physical, mental, and emotional performances. For you see the trick is when you increased one of them, you'll eventually end up boosting them all.

However, this also means that through reverse engineering, I can formulate a method to decelerate human performances. The two-weeks assumption is only based on normal human metabolic rate, it doesn't include a scenario when metabolism was already at a reduced rate. That said, our brain doesn't even need that much oxygen, when it just doesn't need to be aware of anything.

I am sure the scientists have taken this into consideration. The article I linked cited several, all of whom had impressive qualifications and agreed that there should be no way for someone to survive two weeks without water.

If this is true then this is certainly a greater feat than Amar Bharti, the Indian who's kept his right arm raised in the air for nearly 40 years, or that one Hindu who's done nothing but consume milk his entire life.

There is no denying that the Hindus have accomplished great things. Few people can boast such a mastery of their own body.

Nothing outside of the boundaries of matter happened, i.e. no 'miracle', no supernatural events took place, science merely isn't advanced or sophisticated enough in the pertinent area to advance an explanation, so just wait until science reveals what is happening.

I think it lies to human's body. Does this man claimed he can live like this because of his god or because of his method of living?
There's a man walking on fire, on needle, sleeping with bed of needle. When it was discovered, it was amazing, but now everyone can do it with proper method.